QP: Ambulance chasing politics

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Following a morning of announcements including that of a renewed consultation with Indigenous communities on the Trans Mountain Expansion, all of the leaders were present for this week’s exercise of Porto-PMQs. Andrew Scheer led off, mini-lectern on desk, and wouldn’t you know it, Scheer led off on the latest outrage around Tori Stafford’s killer, and the coming vote the Conservatives are forcing on it. Justin Trudeau took a script to say that she was still in a medium security facility, and that the Act doesn’t allow the minister to intervene, but they have undertaken a review of the system. Scheer switched to dairy concession in the new NAFTA deal, and Trudeau took up another script to say that they have promised compensation to producers, and that this was just like ten TPP deal the Conservatives organised and celebrated. Scheer said that the TPP was done in exchange for other concessions unlike this deal. Trudeau dropped his script this time to praise the deal, and especially a list of Conservative luminaries. Scheer shot back that Trudeau needed all the help they could get, then railed about prescription drug costs raising because of IP provisions in NAFTA. Trudeau noted that the Conservatives never did anything about drug prices when they were in charge, and Scheer tried one last time to worry about steel and aluminium tariffs, and Trudeau took up a script again to read from Stephen Harper’s memo urging capitulation. Guy Caron then stood up for the NDP, and he railed about the Liberals apparently rewriting history around the elimination of Chapter 11 in the old NAFTA. Trudeau praised its elimination, and when Caron tried again in English, insisting that they were misleading the House over it. The Speaker admonished Caron for the insinuation, and he refused to apologised on the first time, but gave a grudging apology on the second time, to which Trudeau reiterate that they were pleased with Chapter 11’s elimination. Romeo Saganash then got up to accuse the government of not properly consulting with Indigenous groups, and Trudeau stated that they recognised there is a right process that they would follow. Saganash switched to French to insist that there is a right for those groups to say no, and Trudeau reiterated that there are different communities who want and don’t want projects, and they would do their best to ensure their concerns are heard.

Round two, and Alain Rayes, Tony Clement and Lisa Raitt returned to the issue of Tori Stafford’s killer (Trudeau, sometimes with script: She was transferred from maximum security to medium security in 2014, and the minister doesn’t make decisions around placement; this is a dangerous and repulsive game; Harper’s former lawyer said he’s concerned with efforts to ). Alexandre Boulerice and Nathan Cullen railed that the Trans Mountain decision has already been made, making consultations meaningless (Trudeau: We thank the court for giving us a better process; The LNG Canada proposal shows that you can get it done with proper consultation). Michael Cooper, Karen Vecchio, Kelly Block and Mark Strahl returned to the questions about Stafford’s killer (Trudeau: You won’t let the facts get in the way of a political opportunity). Karine Trudel worried about steel and aluminium tariffs (Trudeau: We will continue to protect our industries and our retaliatory measures will remain in place until the Americans lift their tariffs), and Tracey Ramsey demanded no investor-state dispute resolution in future trade deals (Trudeau: Your riding is glad we’ve got this deal).

Round three saw questions on steel and aluminium tariffs (Trudeau: our measures will remain in place), NAFTA concessions (Trudeau, with scripts: You wanted us to capitulate; Here’s what we got out of the deal), and Andrew Scheer gave another round on steel and aluminium tariffs (Trudeau: We got a lot of wins), a veteran with PTSD versus that murder who go benefits (Trudeau, with script: We can’t talk about any specific case, but we have enhanced access to benefits), the lack of law changes around bestiality after a Supreme Court decision (Trudeau, with script: pabulum about the legal system), the Palestinian situation (Trudeau: We have communicated our opposition to this village to the Israeli government), Manitoba rejecting the carbon tax (Trudeau: Why do Conservative think that pollution should be free? We will collect it and return it to hardworking citizens), and the deadline on the TMX re-do and upstream and downstream emissions (Trudeau, with script: The NEB review is related to the court decision around scoping).

Overall, it was another terribly repetitive day, with the bulk of questions being yet more performative, overwrought questions around Tori Stafford’s killer, and Trudeau got increasingly exasperated as they went along, to the point of calling them “ambulance chasers,” for which he later refused to apologise for. So that went well. Otherwise, the questions on steel and aluminium tariffs were also repetitive to the point of distraction, but why should that matter when parties are simply gathering clips to distribute over social media, and that’s really what this week has been all about, which is pretty depressing when you think about it.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Lisa Raitt for a blue dress with a long white jacket, and to Blake Richards for a dark grey suit with a light blue shirt and a purple tie. Style citations go out to Robert Sopuck for his brown corduroy jacket with a light blue shirt, grey waistcoat and yellow printed tie, and to Rosemarie Falk for a brown dress with pink florals.